New Lhota Ad Features Evil-Looking de Blasio, Biker Gangs

With polls set to open in less than 14 hours, Joe Lhota released a new online ad this afternoon that doubles down on his core message that, if elected, Democrat Bill de Blasio will usher in a new crime wave across the five boroughs.

“New York City is one bad mayor away from a return to unsafe streets and increased crime,” the narrator declares as an image of an apparently cackling Mr. de Blasio is juxtaposed with a scene from the Crown Heights race riots.

The ad goes on to allege that Mr. de Blasio would be soft on the perpetrators of the recent West Side highway biker gang assault, and concludes by implying more such incidents are on their way if Mr. de Blasio is elected: “On Election Day, ask yourself: Do you want to be safe, or sorry?”

The de Blasio campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment but spokesman Dan Levitan did sarcastically note on Twitter that Mr. Lhota was closing “on a hopeful, totally not race-baiting note.”